UCITE

COOPERATIVE LEARNING

The terms "Collaborative Learning", "Cooperative Learning",
and "Team-based Learning" are often used interchangeably, although
they have slight differences in meaning and implementation practices.

Done well, cooperative learning can make the learning experience
very enjoyable for both students and teacher and also result in marked
improvements in learning. A joint study conducted by CMU, MIT and Union College showed that the collective intelligence of groups exceeds the cognitive abilities of individual group members. Other work by M. K. Smith et. al. (Science, vol 323, p. 122, 2 January 2009) and Chandralekha Singh (American Journal of Physics, vol. 73, no.5, p. 446, May 2005) show that students who work in groups can solve problems that none of the indiviiduals could solve on their own.

But many students dislike cooperative learning
because of their past negative experiences with it. This is often
because their instructors have used this method without putting into
place the proper structures.

Necessary conditions for successful cooperative learning

Successful cooperative learning occurs when instructors make sure
they have put into place structures and processes that ensure the following:

Some links to other sources containing useful information on cooperative learning implementation

Collaborative Learning.
This link takes you to a very good site on this topic that addresses
the above questions. It explores all the important issues that arise
when you use cooperative learning, and gives you lots of valuable
suggestions.

Team-Based
Learning. Baylor University link has a site that has a particular application to medical
education.

This link is to a long article by Ted Panitz, a very enthusiastic advocate of cooperative learning, who
has marshalled all the research and benefits to be had from using it in education.